Britt-Marie Wideberg, EIFL Licensing Programme Manager, analyzes the amount of research published in open access in 2023 by authors from EIFL partner countries to find out how EIFL-negotiated open access agreements are making a difference.  

The EIFL Licensing Programme has been negotiating open access agreements with publishers since 2016. These include waived and discounted Article Processing Charges (APCs), as well as free and discounted read & publish terms, and aim to increase the amount of open access publishing output. By the end of 2023 EIFL had negotiated 14 open access agreements with publishers.

These agreements make it possible for authors in EIFL partner countries to publish in 2,458 journals with waived or discounted APCs in 2023. Most agreements are for three-year periods, saving the time that would be needed for more frequent negotiations and contracts. It also makes it possible for authors to manage their publishing schedules and to select the right journal for publishing in open access. 

In 2023 1,746 articles were published in open access by authors from EIFL partner countries, 4% more than in 2022. Most articles ( 85%) were published in fully open access (gold) journals, with just 15% published in hybrid journals. Over 90% of the articles were published with full APC waivers. 

These statistics demonstrate the importance of waivers.  Authors in EIFL partner countries simply cannot afford to pay APCs. Even at discounted rates APCs can cost thousands of dollars. 

In 2023 authors saved approximately 2,5 million USD in APCs - 11 % more than in 2022.

In which journals are authors publishing?

According to the reports received from publishers, most authors published with the bigger publishers - Taylor & Francis, Sage and Oxford University Press. These publishers have big journal portfolios and cover many different subject areas.

Two new agreements with De Gruyter and the Microbiology Society will be in place from 1 January 2025. 

The Microbiology Society is a non-for-profit publisher that publishes six journals. APC waivers for these journals will be available for authors from 33 EIFL partner countries. This is a three-year agreement. De Gruyter is an independent academic publisher and the two-year agreement will include mostly discounted publishing in approximately 370 journals, with a small number of countries eligible for waivers.

Helping authors to find suitable journals

In order to help authors to find where to publish, each year EIFL compiles country specific lists of journal titles with information about waivers and discounts. We communicate these lists to our partner national library consortia, who disseminate them among their academic and research communities. The lists can be searched by subject area.

EIFL also encourages publishers to offer webinars for authors about how to publish in their journals. Also, when negotiating agreements we always ask the publishers to allow for automatic recognition of authors’ eligibility for APC waivers when they submit their articles to make publishing as smooth as possible, and to encourage publishing in open access.

We are open to talk to more publishers. Please get in touch - britt-marie.wideberg@eifl.net